DAMNED

Chapter 11: The Hunt

The night air hit Robina like a slap, cold and biting after the suffocating stench of the warehouse.

She stumbled forward, lungs burning, heart pounding, her legs barely carrying her. Amanda clung to her, sobbing uncontrollably, while Joshua limped, blood streaking his shirt. Cris dragged Krystina by the arm, urging her to keep moving.

But Raell wasn’t with them. He had stayed behind, fighting.

Robina’s voice cracked, raw with anguish. “We can’t leave him!”

Cris spun on her, his face twisted with fury and desperation. “We’ll die if we go back!” His shout echoed against the compound walls, harsh and final.

Amanda wailed, “He saved us! We can’t just abandon him!”

Alice stumbled beside them, whispering through trembling lips, “If we stop, they’ll catch us. Raell wanted us to run.”

Eyrah’s voice rang out, sharp and defiant. “Then we run. We survive—for him.”

Tears streaked Robina’s face as she forced herself forward, her chest aching with every breath. Ahead, the compound’s fences loomed, jagged silhouettes against the night sky. The students’ footsteps pounded across the cracked pavement, each stride a fragile defiance against despair.

Behind them, faint but unmistakable, the clash of steel and screams still echoed from the warehouse. Raell’s fight was not over.

Inside the abandoned warehouse, Raell fought like a man possessed. His knife flashed in the dim light, cutting through the chaos with desperate precision. One guard fell clutching his throat, another staggered back, blood spraying across the rust-stained floor.

But there were too many. Boots slammed into his ribs, the impact cracking bone. Fists crashed against his jaw, splitting skin, sending stars across his vision. A baton struck his shoulder, another on his back, each blow driving him closer to collapse.

He staggered, knife still in hand, slashing wildly, refusing to yield. “Come on!” he snarled, his voice raw, defiant. But the tide of bodies pressed harder, overwhelming him.

The world tilted. His knees buckled, the knife slipping from his grasp. He collapsed onto the cold concrete, blood pooling beneath him. His vision blurred, the flickering bulb above dissolving into shadow.

As darkness swallowed him, Raell’s lips moved, his voice a broken whisper carried on the edge of breath: “Robina…”

The name lingered in the air, fragile and fleeting—a vow, a plea, and a farewell all at once.

Outside, the students sprinted across the compound grounds, their lungs burning, hearts hammering like war drums. The sudden blaze of floodlights cut through the night, bathing them in harsh white glare. Sirens wailed, shrill and merciless, shattering the silence.

Men poured from the buildings, shouting, their voices a chorus of rage. Armed with bats, knives, and chains, they surged forward like predators unleashed.

Joshua stumbled, his leg buckling beneath him. He nearly fell, but Eyrah seized his arm, yanking him upright. “Run!” she screamed, her voice raw with desperation.

Amanda’s sobs twisted into shrieks as a guard lunged from the shadows. Robina shoved him back with all her strength, adrenaline surging through her veins. “Keep moving!” she cried, her voice trembling but fierce.

Cris roared, swinging a rusted pipe he had snatched from the ground. “Stay away from them!” His strike cracked against a guard’s shoulder, buying precious seconds.

Krystina clutched her bound wrists, whispering prayers even as she stumbled forward. “God, guide us… please…”

Alice’s voice shook as she gasped, “They’re everywhere! We’ll never make it!”

Robina’s eyes blazed, her tears mixing with sweat. “We will make it!” she shouted, dragging Amanda and Alice toward the fences looming ahead.

The group scattered, weaving through rusted fences and abandoned sheds, hunted like prey. Their footsteps echoed against the cracked pavement, the night alive with screams, sirens, and the pounding pursuit of men who would not let them go.

Santos’ POV

Santos stood frozen at the edge of the compound, watching the chaos unfold. His chest tightened as Raell was dragged back into the warehouse, bloodied and limp, his knife torn from his grasp. The boy’s defiance had been crushed beneath fists and boots.

Beyond the gates, Santos caught sight of Robina sprinting into the night, her face twisted with terror, her friends scattering like hunted prey.

The floodlights painted them in harsh white, their shadows stretching long across the cracked pavement.

They’ll never escape,

He muttered, though the words tasted bitter. Guilt clawed at him, relentless.

Why am I still serving this monster?

Each scream from the warehouse was a blade twisting deeper into his conscience.

In his mansion, far removed from the rot and ruin, Eugenio received the report. A servant bowed low, voice steady: “The girl escaped with her friends. The boy—Raell—is down. We have him.”

Eugenio’s smile was cold, his eyes gleaming with satisfaction. He swirled his wine, savoring the crimson liquid as though it were blood itself.

“Good,” he murmured.

He leaned back in his chair, imagining Robina’s terror, her tears, her desperate flight into the night. To him, Raell was not a fallen fighter but a tool—a lever to break her spirit, to bend her will.

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The forest swallowed them in chaos. Branches tore at their clothes, shadows stretched long, and panic scattered them in different directions. Amanda’s shrieks faded into the trees, Joshua stumbled into the undergrowth, Cris dragged Krystina toward a clearing, while Alice bolted blindly into the dark.

Robina staggered, her chest heaving, her voice breaking as she cried out, “Stay together! Please!”

But the night devoured her words.

For agonizing minutes, each of them ran alone, hunted by fear and silence.

Joshua collapsed against a tree, clutching his ribs. Amanda sobbed, lost in the thicket. Alice whispered prayers, trembling as she crouched behind a fallen log.

Then, slowly, voices began to pierce the dark.

“Robina!” Amanda’s cry cracked through the forest.

“Here!” Robina shouted back, forcing her voice through the ache in her lungs. She pushed toward the sound, branches whipping her face.

Cris emerged from the shadows, dragging Krystina, his voice hoarse. “We found you!”

Eyrah stumbled in next, pulling Joshua upright. “He’s hurt, but he’s alive.”

One by one, they converged in a small clearing beyond the broken fence, collapsing together into the damp earth. Their breaths came in ragged gasps, their bodies bruised and bleeding, but for the first time since the chaos began—they were together again.

Robina sobbed, clutching her chest. “Raell… he’s gone.”

Her voice trembled, the weight of his sacrifice pressing down on them all.

Amanda buried her face in her hands. “He saved us.”

Cris clenched his fists, his jaw tight. “Then we survive—for him.”

Their unity is fragile but real, the forest shadows wrapping around them like a shield.

The group huddled together in silence, the forest swallowing their cries. The compound loomed behind them, floodlights still blazing, sirens fading into the distance. They were free—for now.

Yet deep inside the warehouse, Raell Layle’s body lay motionless. Shackled, bloodied, his chest faintly rising… or was it only the flicker of the light playing tricks in the dark?

In the shadows of that ruined place, it was impossible to know.

To be continued......